Combustion of titanium with nonmetal nitrides

The specific features of the combustion of mixtures of titanium with powders of nonmetal nitrides BN and Si$_3$N$_4$ are investigated for the first time. Upon combustion, these nitrides serve as a solid source of reactive nitrogen. It is shown that the mechanism of combustion includes both gasless stages and a reaction of gaseous nitrogen with solid or liquid titanium. Here the gasless interaction prevails in the Ti–BN system, and the combustion of the Ti–Si$_3$N$_4$ system occurs according to a complex mechanism including gasless and gas–phase processes.